Freireligiöse Jugend Deutschland

IARF Europe and Middle East Regional Youth Conference
on Freedom of Religion and Beliefs
22-25 October 2009, Mannheim- Germany

Introduction

Young adults have been involved with the IARF in achieving its main vision and goals for many years and they have been working in specific IARF programmes and projects, whether at the local & national, regional and international level. With the recent developments and changes within the organization and in its current leadership, the participation of young adults in the decision making process and in the implementation of projects and programmes are strongly encouraged thus stregthened the existing network among its youth members (Religious Freedom Youth Network-RFYN). RFYN – the main body of the IARF’s youth programme for example has been the main partner of the organization in implementing the Human Rights Education Project (HRE) in Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. To complement the HRE Project, RFYN has been organizing an annual international seminar on Human Rights and the Right to Freedom of Religion and Beliefs, the first session being held in The Netherlands (2007 in partnership with the IARF Dutch Chapter and Jordan (2008) with the Youth Spirit Centre- an RFYN meber organization. The 2009 session is going to be held in Chennai, India from September 11-13, 2009 under with the IARF South Asia Coordinating Council (SACC).


What is the IARF Europe and Middle East Regional Youth Conference? The IARF Europe and Middle East Regional Youth Conference is a gathering of young people and youth workers from various IARF chapters and RFYN partner & network organizations within Europe and the Middle East, representing diverse faith, religious and cultural backgrounds coming together to create a common regional platform in order to inspire, inform, involve and empower each other in the achievement of IARF main rallying goal- a belief with integrity in the region. Taking the issue of human rights in general and freedom of religion in particular, these young people and youth workers are taking a step ahead to share their thoughts, ideas and hopes to uphold these two principles, particularly by drawing on their own substantial experience and personal and social realities, thereby learning to enhanced lessons learned from them and from the sharing of expererie nces with each other.

Why an IARF Europe and Middle East Regional Youth Conference? Recent discussion and dialogue between the leadership of RFYN and the IARF European and Middle East chapter prompted the organization of a parallel regional youth conference, believing that a meeting at the regional level would further enhance the existing networks of youth within the organization and consolidate an inter-gerenational dialogue among elders and young adult in the region. In addition, the conference will serve as a regional platform for young people to convey their messge to their elders on issues that are important to them and the society at large. This is the first time that young people are meeting at the regional level thus, creating a very good precedence to forthcoming youth events within IARF.

What are the general and specific objectives of this regional conference? The overall objective of the European and Middle East Youth Conference is to create a venue for young people to get involved in the regional dialogue and discussion among IARF members, chapters, networks and partners within the region on issues that are relevant in the achievement of the vision of IARF- thus creating a space to foster a spirit of understanding among young people of diverse ethnic, religious and spiritual backgrounds, which in turn be the foundation of future collaboration and partnership among youth adults across political, economic and religious and political boundaries. The specific objectives of the seminar are as follow:

 To hold a parallel meeting for young adult in the region in the precincts of the planned IARF Regional Conference for Europe and the Middle East and served as a preparatory meeting of youth to the IARF World Congress in India in September 2010.
 To bring together a wide range of young people with substantial experience in the promotion and protection of human rights in general and freedom of religion in particular, knowledge and skills in peace and development-related work which are the foundation of IARF & RFYN works. RFYN will use the conference as a venue to select 1 or 2 young adults from the region with the right profile or qualification to serve in the RFYN World Congress Working Party. The said working party will laid out the working methodology and plan the organization of the RFYN Pre-Assembly Meeting, which brings all the young adult a week before the World Congress to and outline the youth inputs to the said Congress in India.
 To build upon young people's commitment in the IARF and strengthen their capacity to get involve in the decision making and project and programme implementation of the organization’s works either at the local & national, regional and international level.
 To mainstream the fundamental human rights and principle to right to freedom of religion and beliefs among youth in the region.
 To bring young people and youth workers and partners from different countries in the region into meaningful contact with each other and share a common vision for a more tolerant world and develop leadership potential in outstanding youth and develop "multipliers" among participants so that the same program, or follow-up events and projects, will be implemented in their own countries and communities.

Conference Methodology: This conference revolves around the idea of building common ground and trust for sharing ideas and developing ways of cooperation. It is about fostering experiential learning for youth so that they become better leaders by developing more self confidence and self awareness among them, while gaining more appreciation of each other's differences, and learning to promote understanding and respect among races, religions and cultures. The conference will be divided into workshop sessions and group works which will then require participants to engage in activities and exercises to reinforce what they have learned about religious freedom and tolerance, overcoming racial and ethnic barriers and accepting others, and the role of young people in community development.

This means the following:
 Teambuilding and working with people from diverse backgrounds is very important, as it helps in building trust and openness for deep and sensitive discussions;
 Activities including visits to sacred places of historic, educational, religious or natural interest will inspire the participants for deeper discussions;
 Plenary, lectures and open discussions: There will be two kinds of plenary, firstly experts giving keynotes and intros for certain topics, to be followed by open discussions; the second kind will be plenary organized by the participants themselves, which can be based around a theme that they were asked to prepare before or during the Seminar, or after working groups;
 Cultural presentations and activities: This time we will learn not only about the country, but also about the different religions;
 Physical activities such as team works that will reinforce teambuilding, AND - quiet and relaxing activities such as singing, chanting, meditating, and keeping in a training journal;
 Group works to develop methods and common understanding for youth participating in Europe and the Middle East;
 Inter-generational dialogue and learning, where elders and young people share knowledge and information;
 Experiential and participatory learning approach where learning is built on the experience of the participants and their realities, so that they have a sense of ownership of the whole learning process;
 Sustainability of the seminar, by developing concrete action and activities around how to follow up on the output of the meeting;
 Mainstreaming gender: The participation and involvement of young women is assured and will be given priority.
 Giving feedback and reporting to our constituents (donors, partner organizations participants and others), who will be updated with the proceedings of the training through participants’ reports and reflections.

The Organizers & Partners: The regional youth conference is being organized by the Religious Freedom Youth Network (RFYN) in collaboration with the IARF Europe and Middle East Chapter (EME).

Backhground of the RFYN: Since IARF's Strategic Plan of 2001-2007, a variety of initiatives involving young adults have taken place within IARF. Among them is the creation of a global network of young adults (RFYN) in 2002 which promote in society the principles of freedom of religion and belief, a human right enshrined in the article 18 of the United Nations Universal Declaration which guides the works and activities of the IARF. Since then, the Young Adult Programme was integrated in the agenda and programming of the IARF with a longer-term goal of developing the necessary knowledge and experience among young people. The intention is that young people can both be active on religious freedom issues and derive support from each other to do so. Since then IARF has always placed great importance on youth, and in this endeavor has define and develop specific programmes for young people. The principal objective of IARF's strategy for action with and for youth is to champion the empowerment of young people as equal and valuable
partners in the organization, by enhancing their full participation in its decision making process and implementation of programs.

Through RFYN, IARF promotes youth participation in society at the local, regional, and international levels. In this regard, youth activities of the organization focus on encouraging young people to
express themselves, as well as giving them the best possible chance to participate fully in promoting religious dialogue, acceptance and tolerance.

In line with IARF's continued efforts to strengthen youth participation, Young Adults have been inspired and continued to seek and reaffirm the value of having the input of young people in the IARF vision, missions and goals through various projects and activities such as Work Camp (gift of labor) in Gujarat, India, Tri-People Youth Dialogue and Traveling Classroom Program in Philippines, UUA and Japan Exchange Program held in Japan and the Human Rights Education Project to mention a few in close cooperation with IARF members and chapters. After the IARF World Congress in Taiwan in 2006, a Young Adult Representative was elected as International Council Member of the IARF which resulted in the creation of the RFYN Steering Committee- a body of young adults composed of 12 members from various regions of world which serves as the young adults' main decision making body. From the recent IARF Council Meeting held in March 2009 in Japan, RFYN made a proposal to increased the representation on youth in the council membership from one to at least two (one female and male).

As mentioned earlier, RFYN has been organizing an annual international training seminar on human rights and freedom of religion and beliefs since 2007 (The Netherlands), 2008 (Jordan) and 2009 (India) of which, the later will also serve a regional conference for youth in Asia.

Partners: Besides the two main organizers mentioned above, this seminar is being implemented with the support of more a couple of youth organizations in Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland. They are as follows:

 Bund deutsch-unitarischer Jugend e.V (Germany)
 Netherlands Network of Liberal Youth (The Netherlands)
 « Serioso ma non tropo » –SMNT-directed by Mr. Serge Ilg (Switzerland)
 The British Isles Unitarian Young Adult Network (BUYAN)- United Kingdom
 Irish Unitarian Youth (Ireland)


Venue and Dates: The IARF Europe and Middle East Regional Youth will be held in
Mannheim, Germany from 22nd- 25th October 2009.
Further details on the hotel and conference venues shall be provided at a later date.



Criteria for Participation:

Up to 100 young adults coming from diverse cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds will be invited to participate in this conference.

Participants should be proficient in English, and have a relevant experioence working with youth or on people to- people initiatives for youth. They should be aware of national or international youth issues in relation to human rights and the right to freedom of religion and beliefs, and have an active interest in promoting understanding and respect for the other cultures, religion or beliefs.

Application

Interested parties should send the duly completed Registration Form no later than 15th of October 2009. Applications and general inquiries should be sent to the following contact:


Mr. Morse Caoagas Flores
RFYN Coordinator
#8 Quai des Forces Motrices, 1204 Geneva
Switzerland
Tel. Number: 0041 79 2660 312
Email: flores.morse@gmail.com

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